TruWealth Advisors LLC Sells 124 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

TruWealth Advisors LLC cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,078 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,207,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,739,000 after purchasing an additional 7,641 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,584,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,127,000 after purchasing an additional 28,185 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,775,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,784,000 after purchasing an additional 61,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the second quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

MRK stock opened at $98.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day moving average of $109.85. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.